Baked Fresh

We hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Visit any of our stores to pick-up some desserts to accompany your picnic and BBQs, including mini icebox pies and banana pudding. Our mini icebox pies ($8.00 each) are available in the following flavors:

• Snickers: Chocolate wafer crust layered with peanut butter and cream cheese and whipped cream filling, topped with Snickers bar pieces.
• Peanut Butter: Nilla wafer crust layered with caramel and peanut butter whipped cream cheese filling, topped with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcake, rich and delicious.
• Banana Cream Pie: Nilla wafer crust layered with fresh bananas and vanilla pudding, topped with fresh whipped cream.
• Blueberry Jamboree: Pecan Shortbread crust layered with whipped cream cream cheese filling and fresh blueberry topping.

Have a great long weekend, everyone!

It’s officially the season of rhubarb – our favorite crimson stalk! Rhubarb is a great ingredient to use in both sweet and savory dishes and, at Magnolia, we bake a number of desserts with rhubarb and another great seasonal ingredient – strawberries.

Rhubarb can be a tricky ingredient to use. Here are some tips from Bobbie Lloyd, our “Chief Baking Officer” for using the seasonal vegetable:

• One trick with rhubarb: It is a very thick stalk so needs a very sharp knife. Be sure to sharpen before you cut the rhubarb.
• Fresh rhubarb is available from early winter through early summer depending on the weather each year. It is a vegetable – not a fruit! – and has a unique taste that makes it a favorite in many pies and desserts. It can be used as a sauce over ice cream, combined with fresh strawberries or made into pies, tarts, puddings or breads.
• When buying rhubarb, make sure there is no discoloration and that the stalks are firm – not flimsy!
• Before cutting your rhubarb, discard any leaves and trim the ends and be sure to wash each stalk thoroughly.

You can also try your hand at baking our strawberry rhubarb crumb cake at home! The Huffington Post recently posted our exclusive recipe: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/magnolia-bakerys-strawber_n_3308057.html

Happy baking!

One of our talented cupcake icers, Joely Vargas from our Chicago team, demos how to create one of our beautiful flower cupcakes, available at select locations and for advanced order. Test your icing skills by making one at home! Watch Joely’s tips here. To order, please call 1.855.MBAKERY.

We would love to see pictures of your creations! Please feel free to share them with us via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Good luck!

Thank you to everyone who shared their most memorable Mom moments! We loved reading all of the stories and having you share your favorite memories. We hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day! Here are all of the daily winners, all of which received two dozen of our favorite freshly-baked goods, as well as our Grand Prize Winner, who won a three month membership to our cupcake club. Thanks, again, for sharing and congratulations to our winners!

Pat Caruso Burgess: My mother is an amazing woman who always has a kind word for everyone. She is 86 years old and I still get phone calls from her asking “Would you like to go shopping?” lol….and of course we must stop for our hot fudge cream puff after  She is still working part time and loves it! She is such an inspiration to me and our entire family–I’m glad she’s my mom!

Andrea Eggert Senska: As a new mom myself to 5 month old twins, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for my own Mother and everything she has done for me and my family. My childhood was filled with fun and laughter and I also learned many valuable lessons thanks to my Mother. I am thankful my Mom is still here with me and can create new memories with my children that they will cherish forever. I love you Mom!

Ali Merante: Mom and I go way back! 24 years to be exact lol. Mom has to be the most hard working mama I have ever met. She worked 34 years with my Dad to send my brother and I to Catholic school. Even though she is retired she is still busier than ever. She volunteers her time all week long. Mom babysits a beautiful baby girl 2-4 times a week along with teaching youth group on Mondays and feeding the needy on Thursdays at a church pantry. She is so giving and always looking for more places to share her time. Mom has given our family and friends more than we could ever hope for. In her “spare” time you can catch her making treats in our kitchen for everyone to enjoy! I love spending time with her! We love our adventures to NYC to visit my brother. She can out walk any of us lol. I look forward to all of our adventures to come. I’m so proud to be her daughter and to call her my mom, mom, mom, mommy, mommy, mamaa, mamaa! Love you Mama xoxo Ali girl your girly girl

Daniel Budsy: My aunt is so sweet because she’s like a mom to me! My own mom passed away when I was just a kid. So her younger sister stepped in to fill the void, even though she lived across the country. She’d fill our deep freezer with awesome casseroles, then she’d take us on a once a year shopping trip for clothes and toys. And til this day, she still calls me every week and tells me stories about my mom and their childhood together, so I feel like she’s still alive today.

Grand Prize Winner – Lisa Gundrum: My mom was sweet because she had 6 kids but she tried to spend special time with each one. My special time with her was taking a walk to the nearby mom and pop grocery store. She would buy me an ice cream bar and we would cross the street and eat our treats on the grass under an apple tree watching the cars go by. I was so happy and excited that I had her all to myself for even an hour or so. My mom just passed away 3 months ago. My first mother’s day without her but these memories are what I treasure. When I go home to visit, I still look at the tree when I pass it and think about those summer days eating ice cream with her under that tree.

Nichol Perez: @magnoliabakery My mom is sweet b/c she gives her grandkids my kids the same love she gave us & sweets to go with it. We all bake 2gether

@olyaolina (Instagram): My mom is so sweet because when I don’t feel good she cook my favorites chocolate pie and brings it to my bed in the morning without waking me up…because she knows the best thing to wake up from is the smell of mom’s pie

Hope Painter: My mom was the best mom ever! everyone loved her so even when i was away my friends would call her just to see how she was and for advice! my favorite mom moments were when she would go shopping with me and our talks where she was not only my mom but my bestfriend! since she passed away its so hard without her but alot of times when i go into your story by broadway the way it smells in the bakery reminds me of how our kitchen smelled when i was growing up and my mom loved to bake! thats probably why i am so obsessed with the store and the amazing cupcakes! thank you for doing this and giving me a minute to remember my mom who i miss all the time! blessings xo

@preacherwifedawn (Instagram): She gives of herself to everyone around never asking for anything in return

@hunnbunchofoats (Instagram): My mom is the sweetest because she is a hardworking and loving mom. She is not perfect but she gives her best to care and provide for me. A bonus sweet point goes to her because even though it was out of the way and traffic builds in the tunnel around rush hour, on the way home from work she out of her way to just get my birthday wish which was your amazing banana pudding and she grabbed me some cheesecake too!

Alvin Guzmán: My mom is not just my mom! She is mom of everyone who need her. Cant be more sweet… Lol